FERRIS STATE ANNOUNCES 2005 FOOTBALL TEAM CAPTAINS

Teammates Select Three Seniors And A Junior To Lead The Bulldogs This Campaign

Senior guard Jeff Williams will be a Bulldog football team captain for the second straight season.

The 2005 Ferris State University football team has selected its team captains for this upcoming gridiron season as voted upon by their teammates. The announcement was made by 11th-year head coach Jeff Pierce.

Senior guard Jeff Williams (West Branch/Ogemaw Heights) and senior quarterback Ryan Kaul (Clarkston) were named as the offensive captains while senior cornerback Jim Skodak (Lennon/Corunna) and junior middle linebacker Mike Klobucher (Grand Haven/North Muskegon) will captain the defense.

The 6-2, 300-pound Williams was named for the second consecutive season. A two-year plus starter at right guard, Williams started all 11 Ferris contests last fall and earned Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) All-Academic Team honors. He garnered all-conference honorable mention team kudos and was the Bulldogs’ Most Improved Offensive Player for the 2002 campaign.

Kaul returns as the team’s starting quarterback after throwing for a personal career-high 1,375 yards and nine TD’s in 10 appearances a season ago. Kaul, who was FSU’s Outstanding Offensive Rookie Award recipient in 2004, totaled seven 100-yard plus single-game passing performances last season highlighted by a 257-yard and one TD effort at Mercyhurst (9/25). The 6-0, 208-pound signal-caller also rushed for 103 yards on 17 attempts at Indianapolis (9/18) which marked a school record for most net rushing yards by a quarterback. He enters the 2005 campaign presently ranked 12th among the Bulldogs’ all-time passing leaders with 1,560 career yards and 10 TD’s on 126-of-266 passing (47.4 completion pct.).

Senior cornerback Jim Skodak will serve as a defensive co-captain this season.

Regarded as one of the GLIAC’s top cornerbacks, Skodak is a two-time (2003-04) all-conference honorable mention selection and placed ninth on the squad with 31 tackles (24 solos) to go along with a team-best tying three interceptions as an 11-game starter last fall. He placed 15th nationally in passes defended (1.5 avg.) and 65th in kickoff returns (21.3 ypr.) a season ago. The two-year starter has posted 88 tackles (61 solos) with four tackles for a loss of 26 yards to go along with four pass thefts for 26 yards and two recovered fumbles in 25 career encounters. Skodak has also 23 career kickoff returns for 503 yards and a TD during his Bulldog career.

Klobucher is coming off his most productive campaign in a Ferris uniform last year with a team-leading 134 tackles (80 solos) in 11 games which represented the 18th highest single-season output in Bulldog history. He also chipped in with seven tackles for a loss of 23 yards and had two pass sacks for minus 15 yards while notching one pass interception. The 6-2, 245-pounder produced eight double-digit tackle performances last fall, including a career-best 20 stops (11 solos) in the season opener versus Grand Valley State (8/28). For his efforts, Klobucher was a co-winner of the FSU Coaches Award and was named to the GLIAC’s All-Academic Team. The 2003 squad’s Most Outstanding Defensive Rookie, Klobucher is a two-time (2003-04) co-recipient of the FSU President’s Academic Award for having the team’s highest grade point average. In 22 career outings, Klobucher has generated 188 total tackles (114 solos) while notching 9.5 tackles for minus 28 yards and two pass thefts for five yards.

Ferris State opens its 2005 season this Saturday (Aug. 27) as the Bulldogs face their archrivals the Grand Valley State University Lakers in a 7 p.m. (EDT) conference-opening matchup at GVSU’s Arend D. Lubbers Stadium in Allendale, Mich. Ferris then will open the home portion of this season’s slate on Saturday, Sept. 3, against the Ashland University Eagles at Top Taggart Field in Big Rapids. A 7:05 p.m. (EDT) opening kickoff is scheduled for the contest which is part of the Turn Back The Clock Night festivities.